Gold Toning of Vandyke

[sanking]

I am working on an article about vandyke printing and hope to include some examples of the various looks we can get with toning. I have good one-shot formulas for palladium and platinum printing but in the past have had some problems with gold toners. Can someone point me to a gold toner that can be used one shot and discard for vandyke printing. I would like to mix my own.

Sandy King

 

[Loris Medici]

Sandy I was using gold-thiourea toner w/o any glitches/problems. What problems were you experiencing with gold toner? (And which one?)

Regards,
Loris.

 

[sanking]

Sandy I was using gold-thiourea toner w/o any glitches/problems. What problems were you experiencing with gold toner? (And which one?)

Regards,
Loris.

Loris,

I was using this formula, similar to my palladium and platinum toners for kallitype an vandyke.

It gives a very nice look, but goes off much faster than the palladium and platinum versions.

Citric acid 5g
5% gold chloride sol. 5ml
distilled water to make 1000ml

I know the gold-thiourea formula, but it seems designed for repeated use rather than one shot and discard?

Sandy

 

[Loris Medici]

You can use it one-shot too... (In a flat tray with very little toner. In fact, I know people who prefer using it one-shot, for instance Don Bryant.)

Yes, its composition contain 2x gold compared your toner, but per print cost will still remain manageable. Also, you can dilute it 1:1 with water (distilled) for one-shot use, it will work slower but coverage / agitation will be easier. (I don't recommend mixing half strength because I haven't tried myself, I'm suggesting diluting the stock solution per use...)

Regards,
Loris.

P.S. Full strength gold-thiourea toner was changing the color of my prints to neutral black in about 45-60 seconds, therefore you'll probably already want to dilute the toner for better color control, making it even more pocket-friendly!

P.S.2. Thiourea is used in s/g toners as a sulfur source. I'm not sure about the acidic pH (s/g toner is alkali) but it could also be partially sulfur toning the silver. If so, prints toned in gold-thiourea toner should be (presumably) even more achival than ones toned in plain gold toners...???

 

[sanking]

Loris,

I mixed up the gold-thiourea toner and used it one shot an discard in a flat tray, just as I tone with palladium and platinum. I used 25ml of the solution, without dilution, for an 8.5 X 11" print and it toned completely in ten minutes. The color is very nice. I am attaching an image to show the tone I got.

In the past I have preferred palladium toner for kallitypes, but for vandykes I think the gold gives a richer look, also bumps up the contrast just a tad, but without blowing out the highlights.

Sandy King

 

[Loris Medici]

That's nice Sandy, that's from the trip to China with Sam right?

BTW 10 minutes for that color seems pretty long to me but then I was using the full 1000ml toner for each prints, that can be the reason of the difference in timing. The toner is pretty consistent with the color it gives, it only slows with age and use...

Regards,
Loris.

P.S. BTW I was using a slightly different gold compound (KAuCl4) for the toner so not every of my observations are necessarily applicable to your toner...

 

[sanking]

That's nice Sandy, that's from the trip to China with Sam right?

Loris

Yes, that is a scene in the Yellow Mountains in China. Trip there was quite an experience. Lot's to see and photograph, but go while you are young. To get anywhere is usually either 45 degrees up or 45 degrees down, sometimes even more steep than that.

Sandy